As a kid in 1983 I felt bad for Ralphie. Santa didn’t really need to kick him in the face after shattering his dreams, did he? But alas, this was just a movie.

Children all over the world ask Santa for presents every year, because Santa is all about the kids. They want footballs and Barbie dolls, Princess castles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It would only be logical to assume that some children may also ask Santa for toy guns.

How about the real thing? The NRA has always been vocal about teaching kids gun safety at a young age. I once had a run in with an ammosexual at a yard sale full of my kids’ old toys and clothes looking for cheap firearms. When I told him I don’t have guns in my home because I have small children I was told “you should obey the second amendment and teach them about guns now.” Obey? My response was simple. “Gee…I hope they get it.”

The American gun nut doesn’t get it. Guns aren’t toys. Guns don’t belong in the hands or even in the reach of children, no matter how well you think you’ve educated them. Children make poor decisions sometimes, otherwise we’d set them loose on the world when they hit the ripe old age of eight.

To glorify guns in the eyes of children is incredibly irresponsible, which is why reasonable people and good parents across America are outraged when they see Santa Claus, the jolly old elf that children worship above all others, promoting firearms.

The giant inflatable gun-toting Santa and the images that follow it should serve as a wake-up call to a society that is for some reason devolving into one of suspicion, aggression and hate. Santa is for the children. Guns are not.

Here are few examples of people using Christmas to glorify firearms:

Fort Worth Gun uses this image as their Facebook Cover Photo during the holidays. Has Santa taken up arms to protect us from the war on Christmas? – Image via Facebook

This family is ready for the revolution, or the zombie apocalypse. Will the baby Santa is holding grow up and ask him for an assault rifle of her own? – Courtesy of malialitman.wordpress.com

This Dad apparently thinks his son needs a gun almost as big as he is – courtesy of malialitman.wordpress.com